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Carrie Fisher And Debbie Reynolds Private Double Funeral Set For Friday
Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher at the SAG Awards in 2015 (Getty Images)
A private memorial for both Star Wars star and writer Carrie Fisher and her mother, movie legend Debbie Reynolds, will be held on Thursday, followed by a funeral on Friday. A source told the Hollywood Reporter that the event is only for family and close friends, "I’m not sure what they’re calling it — a funeral or a wake — but it will be Thursday at the house. It will be exactly what they both wanted, to be together.”
Fisher died at age 60 on December 27, after suffering a heart attack on a flight from London to Los Angeles a few days earlier. Reynolds, 84, died the following day, apparently while discussing Fisher's funeral plans with son Todd Fisher.
The pair will be buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, and Todd Fisher said they would be buried among “among friends" like Liberace and Bette Davis.
Carrie Fisher and her mother were very close, with Reynolds' outsized fame and old-Hollywood personality creating an unusual upbringing. Then Fisher became a star in her own right, with film roles, writing acclaimed memoirs and becoming very outspoken with her battle with bipolar disorder. The pair lived next to each other in Beverly Hills, and their intense bond is the subject of the documentary Bright Lights, which is premiering on HBO this weekend, on January 7. The trailer was just released, and it's a bittersweet look at the mother and daughter:
The family apparently is very grateful to the United passengers who helped Fisher on the flight. According to TMZ, "We're told these 2 volunteers—one of whom is a nurse—'worked like crazy' to keep Carrie alive, despite the fact they couldn't get a pulse for more than 10 minutes. The family believes if it wasn't for them, they wouldn't have had a few extra days to say goodbye."
On Monday, Fisher's daughter Billie Lourd posted a thank you for the sympathy she's received:
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A public memorial is being planned for a later date; Meryl Streep may be a speaker.
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